Blast in northern Iraq shows PUK affiliated group conducting training with PKK/YPG: Türkiye

An explosion this week at Arbat Airport in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah has revealed that a group affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is conducting training with PKK/YPG terrorists, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

"In Iraq, the terrorist activities of the PKK terrorist organization and its affiliates, particularly concentrated in the northern part of the country, and the movement within the terrorist corridor established between Syria and Iraq, are closely monitored," the ministry said in a statement.

"In this context, the developments regarding the explosion that occurred at Arbat Airport in Sulaymaniyah on Sept. 18, 2023 are noteworthy."

The ministry said that at the time of the explosion, it is understood that members of the "counter-terrorism group" affiliated with the PUK were conducting training with PKK/YPG terrorists.

"This development is alarming in that it openly reveals the collaboration of some security elements affiliated with the PUK and members of the terrorist organization,” it said.

“The effectiveness of our measures taken towards Iraq's Sulaymaniyah, where the terrorist organization has effectively held its people hostage, has once again been confirmed with this incident,” it added.

Türkiye expects both the central government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to recognize the PKK terrorist group and its affiliates as terrorist organizations and to sincerely and tangibly combat terrorism, it said.